North America

DISCUSSION: As millions of people both from across the United States of America and the world have watched, Major Hurricane Harvey made landfall with a very loud bang across a good portion of southeastern Texas later Friday night. After well over 48 hours (or 2 days) of near-constant rainfall, many areas across parts of southeast Texas have now received well over 30 inches and in some cases over 40 inches of total rainfall over the course of the last couple of days. These excessive rainfall totals have been the direct result of efficient moisture transport both off the northwestern Gulf of Mexico as well as directly from the persistent circulation associated with what still now remains to be Tropical Storm Harvey. Attached below is a direct excerpt from the GOES-16 Satellite Facebook Account which more elaborately describes the evolution of this situation up to this point.

"GOES-16 infrared imagery depicts the hourly of the evolution of Harvey from August 22 through August 28, 2017.

A strengthening Tropical Storm Harvey approached Texas Gulf coast on August 24, 2017. Harvey initially developed and was named on August 17 in the Atlantic just east of the Lesser Antilles. A couple of days later, Harvey weakened to a wave before crossing over the Yucatan Peninsula. After advancing into the Gulf of Mexico on August 22, Harvey strengthened again to a Tropical Storm. On August 24, Harvey was forecast to become a Major Hurricane before making landfall. Harvey continued to strengthen through August 25, and made landfall on the Texas coast as a Category 4 Hurricane around 10:00 p.m. CDT that evening.

A GOES-16 1-min mesoscale sector was consistently available over Harvey during its life cycle. For tropical cyclones, 1-min imagery has proven to aid in identifying a center of circulation and in tracking thunderstorm evolution. On August 24, 30-second imagery (two overlapping 1-min sectors) was requested to track Harvey, providing a rare look at a strengthening tropical system.

By the morning of August 26, Harvey had weakened to a category 1 hurricane, continuing to produce strong winds and heavy rain across a large swath of Texas. By the morning of August 28, Harvey had not moved much, still dropping heavy rainfall over southeast Texas and now western Louisiana."

To learn more about other high-impact weather events occurring across North America, be sure to click here!